The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-04-20
The Lords Secretary.

friend of blessing received through the
ministry of the pen, wrote: ''The Lords
secretary! He will always tell thee
what to write when He has business for
thee to do" And how true this, is !!
There is not half enough importance at
tached to the wording of the every day
letters and notes that grow into hundreds
under our hands. One of old wrote:
Set a watch. o Lord, before the
door of my lips" and many writers
have grown eloquent on the power of
of the mighty influence Of the tons Of
written language that pass annually
through the post in Great Britain alone.
Yet every Christian should be one OF
the Lords secretaries. Letter-writing
as an every day means of conveying
thought between individuals is on the
rapid increase. What glorious oppor-
tunities are here, then, for Christian
letter writers to become the
Lords secretaries! And oppo-
tunity n,eans responsibility. Every let
ter written by the Christian should bear
the Royal Treasury stamp-the paper,
"without spot or blemish ;"-the quill,
a plume pointed with the confidence
that, though you arc the instrument in
his hand, "He shall cover thee with his
feathers" and reveal Himself only upon
the page. The ink, sympathetic, re-.
membering that He is ''touched with
the feeling of our iniirmitics," and is
"full of compassion" The blotter-ah,
think then of the words, "Ihave blotted
out as a thick cloud thy trans
grcssions," and how tender this will
make you as you writel Per-
haps it is the first letter to a new friend
it may influence the whole of the
friendship hereafter and through eternity
think of this and ask for wisdom. Or it
may be, the letter Is to one whose guile
has panied you-be gentle with the sim
ner, and let the Lord write about the
sin. for his secretary must be faithful.
Perchance you are writing to one
whom you know to be in the perilous
position of those who are ''without God
and without hope in the world" A
young lady was once writing to a young
man indulging in vicious courses,
whom she desired to warn
and counsel; but before she
began her letter. she sought her greatest
friend. In such spirit was it written
that the recipient, in his reply said: {:
"Surely God dictated that letter; bad
as 1 am, yet understand every word
of it, and could believe it was written
with quill from an angels wing" The
young man was led, BY tina. letter, to
give up his evil companions, and to seek
the Lord with all his heart.
A beautiful letter-writer once
wrote: 81 live between the folds Of
sheet of paper" 81 live"-how sug-
gestivel How easy to make it, II live,
yet not !, but Christi" To some, whose
chief literature is friends letters, what
a blessing is the life thus revealed "be
tween the folds of sheet of paperw
In that Psalm xiv. of instruction Omar
gin) for the sons of Korah, where the
writer ends by saying he will make his
Lords name to be remembered through
all generations, the opening words are !:
'My heart is inditing (bubblcth up) a
good matter; speak of the things which
I have made touching the king" Here
Is text tor the Loru's sccrctn'
ries: "Thngs touching the king"
A letter will reach where
voice cannot hope to he heard, q letter
may bc real not cn:c, but often, and
each time under d tfcrcnt circumstances.
in varying moods, so that if not apprc-
cintcd ut first, it may speak with fresh
power in second reading.
Let these thoughts stimulate us to re-
conservation in the matter OF our pen work
and that we may 'count it all JOY" to be
used of God in this way for among
some of his most successful missionaries
aud faithful ministers are those who,
writing in his name are indeed the
Lords secretaries. London Christian.